Rejected posting to ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Fri Apr 20 04:53:08 UTC 2007
I recall those - spelled with "o," of course - from the eye-dialect of
old comic strips like Li'l Abner, Dan'l Flannel, Barney Google &
Snuffy Smith, the old "Pogo" comic book, Billy the Kid (the
Roy-Rogers-as-goat hero who fought the Snidely-Whiplash-as-goat
card-shark / card-sharp, Kid Gloves, and the Jimmy Boys Gang of
bank-robbers led by Frank & Jesse Jimmy, etc., etc.
-Wilson
On 4/19/07, James C Stalker <stalker at msu.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Rejected posting to ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well, stomp me flat and call me a flitter. According to data from Dialect
> Notes from the early 20th C (which I do not, unfortunately, have at hand),
> Appalachian English regularly used /a/ for /æ/ in jab, stab, tramp, stamp,
> pamper, catch.
>
>
>
> Dennis Preston writes:
>
> >
> >>
> >> Wilson,
> >>
> >> Certainly wasn't only a Black thang in the 40's. When I was a kid the
> >> verb was always 'stomp' and the stuff for postage was a 'stamp.' I
> >> couldn't say (for example) "He stamped out a fire" until I went away
> >> from the homeland. (Still sounds funny as hell to me.)
> >>
> >> And certain things I can't say even now, though I know the fancy
> >> (Northern?) verb. "He stamped his ass." Impossible. Sounds like he
> >> got it ready for mailing or maybe rubber-stamped it.
> >>
> >> dInIs
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>> -----------------------
> >>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> Poster: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >>> Subject: Re: change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> -------
> >>>
> >>> Not to mention certain pronunciations and turns of phrase that are now
> >>> felt as standard. Several years ago, I came across a reprint of a
> >>> perhaps century-old book with a title something like, A Lexicon of the
> >>> Speech of the Southern-Alabama Negro. Though I've tried for the past
> >>> couple of years to track down this publication, I've not been
> >>> successful. I've been hoping to see it mentioned by someone here, but,
> >>> so far, I''ve been SOL. IAC, the number of now-ordinary words and
> >>> phrases that the compiler specifies as peculiar to the speech of black
> >>> Southern-Alabamians is quite surprising. Unfortunately, I can recall
> >>> only one trivial example: the pronunciation of the verb, "stamp," as
> >>> though it was spelled "stomp," a pronunciation that some authors, e.g.
> >>> Roger Abrahams, WRT the speech of black Philadelphians, still
> >>> considered to be only a black thang as recently as the '60's.
> >>>
> >>> -Wilson
> >>>
> >>> On 4/17/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>> -----------------------
> >>>> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >>>> Subject: Re: change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing
> >>>>
> >>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> --------
> >>>>
> >>>> I agree, though Black English is not the only source. However, it
> >>>> certainly has contributed a great number of (more or less)
> >>>> identifiable slang expressions to general American English since
> >>>> the Swing Era and especially since the 1960s.
> >>>>
> >>>> Slang by (my) definition originates in contexts regarded as
> >>>> indecorous by speakers of prestige dialects.
> >>>>
> >>>> JL
> >>>>
> >>>> Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM> wrote:
> >>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>>> -----------------------
> >>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
> >>>> Poster: Amy West
> >>>> Subject: change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing
> >>>>
> >>>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> --------
> >>>>
> >>>> Hmmm...I like CPE; however I wonder if my students will be more
> >>>> confused if I use that while our Longman's Writer's Companion uses
> >>>> SWE.
> >>>>
> >>>> I'm much more interested by the "phonetic changes work up" statement.
> >>>> I've run across a similar analysis relating to slang terms entering
> >>>> the language in a chapter in _Slam Dunks & No-Brainers_ where the
> >>>> author argues that many slang terms work their way "up" from Black
> >>>> Vernacular English into the dominant dialect. Being a newbie, I
> >>>> wasn't sure if this was a consensus view in the field or not.
> >>>>
> >>>> ---Amy West
> >>>>
> >>>> >I use, and prefer, the term Conventional Plublic English, rather than
> >>>> >Standard English, because, of course, there are no language
> >>>> standards, just
> >>>> >lots of opinions, and opinions influence conventions, but not
> >>>> standards.
> >>>> >Labov's, Wolfram's and Trudgill's research indicates that
> >>>> phonetic changes
> >>>> >work up rather than down suggests that conventions, not standards, are
> >>>> >altered from below. Have you looked at your son's pants lately?
> >>>> >
> >>>> >JCS
> >> >>
> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>> >
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> ---------------------------------
> >>>> Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
> >>>> Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> >>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >>> -----
> >>> -Sam'l Clemens
> >>>
> >>> "Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it
> >>> again.
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> James C. Stalker
> Department of English
> Michigan State University
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens
"Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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